Database systems and other systems often store a wealth of information. However, knowing where to search for data, or what data to access to solve a particular problem can be challenging. On the one hand, many users have a presumption that a solution exists somewhere in the cloud, referring to a network or group of networks. On the other hand, the more information that is created and stored makes finding the right information increasingly difficult. Add in the additional problems that traditional search is composed “backwards”, and that different people use different terminology, and searching for a solution may not provide the results desired.
Traditional searching for a solution is usually “backwards” in that the search systems often require the user to select lists or groups of data for the solution. Such an approach misses the fact that a user usually does not know what s/he is looking for, and/or the data is often organized in a way different from how the user thinks about the problem. The user would prefer to simply be able to ask a question semantically and have an answer given. This leads into the other problem that different terms and phrases are used to mean the same thing, and a solution to the problem may be missed because the terminology used is different from that of the search. Thus, a user is implicitly expected to use the “right” search terms to get the desired solution.
An additional challenge is provided in the move to more modern database system architectures. In many conventional database systems, users access their data resources in one logical database, from a user's own systems. When a unitary database is accessed, system-wide conventions can be used for all users. Such assumptions about conventions and database system architecture are not appropriate for many modern and developing systems. Search and access may be further complicated from the system operation side when such assumptions no longer prove true.
Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein. An overview is provided below, followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.